T-Mobile Spent $195,000 at Trump Hotel in D.C. While Lobbying for Sprint Merger
T-Mobile Us Inc’s executives inlcuding the company's chief executive, John Legere, have spent $195,000 on hotel stays and other expenses at the Trump International Hotel in Washington since the company sought approval for a $26 billion merger with Sprint last April.
The company disclosed the expenses in a letter after Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Pramila Jayapal, both Democrats, sent letters to leaders of the Trump Organization and T-Mobile last month after reports that T-Mobile executives started regularly using the Trump hotel.
According to the Feb. 21 letter seen by The Washington Post, T-Mobile said the $195,000 included costs for “meeting space, catering, business center services, audio/visual equipment rental, lodging, meals, taxes and other incidental expenses.”
After questions were raised about the Trump hotel stays, Legere posted a photo of himself from another prominent Washington hotel.
The Washington Post reported that T-Mobile executives had reserved at least 52 nights at the hotel since the merger announcement, dramatically boosting the company’s use of the hotel.
The company said the Trump hotel expenses were just 14 percent of its total spent at Washington area hotels during that period.
The Democrats said the hotel stays “raise questions about whether T-Mobile is attempting to curry favor with the President, who has not fully divested from his financial interests, via their numerous and expensive stays in the Trump Hotel.”
The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission are still reviewing the proposed deal to combined the T-Mobile US and Sprint.